One of my students went on a group tour deep into mainland China. During the trip, he felt sick and stopped to rest. No one realized he stopped, and his group moved on. He soon realized he was alone. As the day progressed, he felt he was suffering from heat stroke and needed help, but each person he approached only spoke Chinese. He was terrified he was going to pass out, and the feeling of being totally alone deep in China with no one to call for help was frightening. Finally, he located a person who spoke English and helped him get medical treatment and eventually rejoin his group.
We live in a generation where people are very interconnected, and if one needs help, it’s usually easy to reach out quickly by text, WhatsApp or email. Nonetheless, some people still feel alone with no one to reach out to.
That feeling of being alone is a central theme of Rosh Hashanah. We are familiar with the words of the “Unesaneh Tokef” prayer: “On Rosh Hashanah it is written and on Yom Kippur it is sealed: who will live and who will die, who will become poor and who will become wealthy…” But the Mishna that discusses the judgment on Rosh Hashanah doesn’t mention the criteria for judgment. It says that four times during the year the world is judged regarding various matters. On Pesach the judgment is on produce; Shavuos on fruits of the tree; Rosh Hashanah all individuals, and Sukkos on water. For three of the holidays, the specifics of the judgments are listed, but regarding Rosh Hashanah it doesn’t say for what man is being judged. It just says that every person passes in front of Hashem single file. How could the Mishna omit the details of the basis for our judgment?
Rav Moshe Shapiro shares an incredible insight. In the tefillos of Rosh Hashanah we say, “Hayom haras olam—today is the birthday of the world.” Indeed, according to Rabbi Eliezer, the world was created on Rosh Hashanah. The Ran calculates that Rosh Hashanah was really not the first day of creation, but rather the world was created on the 25th day of Elul, and Rosh Hashanah is the sixth day of creation—the day on which man was created. Yet Rosh Hashanah is considered the birthday of the world because man—the purpose of the creation of the world—was created on that day.
The Mishna says that when anyone kills someone, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world, and when anyone saves someone’s life, it is as if he saved an entire world. The source for this conclusion is the fact that Adam was created alone, and the entire world was therefore created for one man. Hence, one man is considered as the entire world. The Mishna continues and says that a person needs to believe that the entire world was created for him. This sounds so egotistical, but it’s the truth.
Thus, the Mishna regarding Rosh Hashanah is teaching that its primary judgment is not who will live or die; rather, we are being judged on whether we as individuals are worthy of the world being created for us. Just as we’re alone when we pass from this world, so too we are judged on Rosh Hashanah—alone. That’s a scary feeling, to be bereft of our friends, our family and our support network. How can we succeed when we have no lifeline?!
The Gemara gives us the solution. Each Yom Tov we have a specific mitzvah whose fulfillment gives us the merit to be judged favorably. On Pesach, we are judged on the produce of the land, so Hashem gives us the mitzvah of Omer—to bring the produce to the Beis Hamikdash. On Shavuos, we are judged on the fruits of the tree, so Hashem gives us the mitzvah to bring Bikkurim (First Fruits). On Sukkos, we are judged on water, so Hashem gives us the mitzvah to do water libations.
The mitzvah on Rosh Hashanah that gains us favor with Hashem…is the shofar. Indeed, the shofar is the instrument of our success. When it’s sounded, we are having a one-on-one connection with Hashem. We are alone, but we are not alone—the shofar is our lifeline. Through the shofar we can call out to Hashem and say, “I am here to fulfill the individual role for which you created me and the whole world. I am all alone and I need your help to succeed.”
Wishing you a kesivah vachasimah tovah for a healthy and successful year.
Rabbi Baruch Bodenheim is the associate rosh yeshiva of Passaic Torah Institute (PTI)/Yeshiva Ner Boruch. Rabbi Bodenheim can be reached at [email protected]. For more info about PTI and its Torah classes, visit www.pti.shulcloud.com
